Tower Hamlets Together

The vanguard and the people it serves

Tower Hamlets faces some of the toughest health inequalities in the UK caused by high levels of deprivation. Almost 40 per cent of the borough’s children live in poverty and the area has the second highest premature death rate amongst adults from circulatory disease, cancer and respiratory disease of all the London boroughs.

Coupled with this, the local population is growing fast, which will lead to even greater health inequalities if the vanguard fails to act now. That is the driver for the new models of care and why partnership sits at the heart of how Tower Hamlets Together works – recognising that no one organisation can do all that needs to be done in isolation.

The partnership includes commissioners and providers of acute, community, mental health, social care and primary health services, including:

Barts Health NHS Trust

East London Foundation Trust

Tower Hamlets Council

Tower Hamlets GP Care Group

NHS Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group

The vanguard is also developing close working links with wider partners including the local community, voluntary sector and hospice.

Tower Hamlets Together serves a population of approximately 287,000 people.

What is changing?

Tower Hamlets Together is a multispecialty community provider vanguard, which means partners will work together to deliver innovative, integrated and seamless care to patients, carers and families. Care will be user focused and better coordinated to reduce duplication and improve patient experience.

The vanguard plans to achieve this through the delivery of an ambitious programme of transformation which includes a model of care for adults with complex needs, a model of care for children and young people and the development of a population-wide health programme that focuses on prevention.

These new models of care will encourage the residents of Tower Hamlets to find and develop resources and skills within themselves and their communities and to have the confidence to work in partnership with services to improve their own and their families’ health and wellbeing.

More patients will have their care coordinated around their needs rather than having to navigate numerous different services and more vulnerable patients will receive care in their own homes, reducing the time they have to spend in hospital away from their family and friends.

Key benefits

Working together to offer joined-up, patient focused care

Helping people look after themselves better, reducing pressure on the health and care system.